Bowl ticket requirement reduced for new college playoff

Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty dives for a 13-yard rushing touchdown against Central Florida in the second quarter at the 43rd Tostitos Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz.(Photo: Rob Schumacher, The Arizona Republic)

Story Highlights

Some teams in BCS games struggled to find buyers for the tickets they were required to buy from bowl games

The BCS required participating teams and leagues to buy at least 17,500 tickets

The new playoff format replaces the BCS next season and will reduce that amount to 12,500

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — The new College Football Playoff system will require participating teams and leagues to buy at least 12,500 tickets to each game – a significant reduction from the 17,500-ticket requirements that saddled several participants with millions of dollars in unsold tickets for Bowl Championship Series games.

BCS executive director Bill Hancock told USA TODAY Sports that the 12,500-ticket requirement will include the two semifinal games, plus the Cotton, Chick-fil-A and Fiesta Bowls. Those three games, plus the Rose, Sugar and Orange Bowls, are part of new playoff and premium bowl rotation, which starts next season and replaces the BCS. Hancock said the national championship game will have a requirement of about 20,000.

Though some teams easily found buyers for their 17,500 tickets in the BCS era, others struggled and were stuck with the full-price bill for them anyway. In 2011, for example, Connecticut reported that it lost $1.6 million on its Fiesta Bowl trip because of $2.6 million in unsold tickets.

"I think it's more in line with what the schools can use," said Hancock, who also will oversee the playoff. "It's a balancing act, because you had Connecticut, which only could use 5,000. On the other hand, you had LSU going to the Sugar Bowl and could take 50,000. Our challenge in preparing contracts is to find a middle ground that will work for everybody."

The ticket requirements are negotiated by the bowls and leagues long before bowl matchups are finalized. The bowls like bigger guaranteed ticket sales because they shift the risk of unsold tickets to the schools and leagues. In exchange for taking on that risk, the bowls generally guarantee a bigger payout for participating schools and leagues. The schools and leagues also get a block of premium tickets at locked-in prices that might fetch more money on the open market.

Under the new playoff system, tickets to some of the games are likely to command top dollar, especially the semifinals. But the other games might depend on upon matchups and travel distance. This season, Baylor and Central Florida both reported having trouble finding buyers for the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona. Last season, Florida State only sold a portion of its 17,500 tickets to the Orange Bowl and was forced to absorb $2.1 million in unsold tickets with help from the Atlantic Coast Conference. FSU reported to the NCAA that the "price of the tickets were too high and the secondary market had tickets at a much lower cost, which made it impossible for us to sell our allotment."

By contrast, teams from the Big Ten generally don't struggle to sell their tickets to the Rose Bowl. This year, Michigan State sold its 24,000-ticket allotment to the Rose Bowl and still needed more because of high demand.

"Some places have smaller fan bases and are more regionally oriented," Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany told USA TODAY Sports. "They struggle with it … There's got to be some number that people are accountable for."

When not staging semifinals, the Rose, Orange and Sugar Bowls will determine their own ticket requirements as part of their contracts with various conferences, Hancock said. For example, the Rose Bowl has contracts with the Big Ten and Pac-12.